Just a couple of things...

Remember my Skin MD review from a while back? Great stuff.

Anyway, I got a heads up that they are hosting their biggest giveaway ever: a $300 basket of goodies including lots of Skin MD products, and some excellent things for your next backyard BBQ bash! Click here to enter - this is the prize:Awesome, right?! The giveaway ends on June 25th, and is open to US and Canada.

Also, to get ready for summer they are offering 20% off all during the month of June! Just enter the discount code SUMMER10 during check out at www.skinmdnatural.com.
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In other news, we have wrapped the shed like a big black present in tarpaper (preparation for siding and roofing shingles), and my husband installed the windows today. It's like the ugly duckling - not so pretty today, but it has great potential. I know it will be nice when it's finished.
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I'm not feeling so hot these days - must be coming down with something. Sore throat, headaches, aches and pains, that sort of thing. You'd think with summer on the way, cold season would be over. I wish. I'm feeling a little over-exerted from all the construction. And a little whiny, huh?! Sorry!

ps, go enter the Supplement Source giveaway, would ya? Two gift certificates and they do have lots of stuff - workout wear for your guy, skipping ropes, lifting gloves, greens for smoothie lovers, as well as, of course, supplements!

Small changes

I'm trying to tidy things up around the blog a bit, and have added a new pages tab along the top. Now you can access giveaways (current and past, including winners), a little 'About Me' page, and a page for PR through the top tab.

Things are at a standstill in the backyard - well, everything's growing (not one plant casualty yet! fingers crossed), but the shed is in stasis as the weather's been rainy this week. We did find a patio set, which my husband assembled - love it! Super comfy and pretty stylish, and we got it on sale (yay!).

Last night we hit the gym for the first time in a while - we got loads of exercise, believe me, building that pergola and digging/planting the gardens. It felt good to get back to some yoga and pilates, though. Our gym has some really great fitness instructors.

Otherwise, things are pretty quiet around here. Oh, do enter the giveaway if you haven't yet - a gift certificate at Supplement Source can buy some pretty cool stuff (it's not all supplements!) - and I have TWO to give away!

What we've been up to

Crazy, crazy month. We did SO MUCH I can hardly believe it.
Here's our yard on May 3rd:By May 7th the contractors had finished their work and left it like this:By May 22nd, we had the pergolas up - these were designed by my husband and he did the majority of the work. I was his assistant. These went up on evenings and weekends.By May 28th we had over 400 square feet of gardens dug out around the pergolas, a new rock garden (from rocks we 'farmed' at a nearby construction site - ugh! HEAVY!), a new raised bed all along the back of the pergolas between the patio and the wall (that garden alone is 4x24' and 2' tall) AND we raided the nurseries and planted three truckloads of new plants, re-sodded, and added some nice hanging baskets as well... Oh yes, and bought and assembled a new barbeque...
Can't forget the 15' Armstrong maple we planted... And those wooden things in the pergola are the walls of our shed, also built this week...














Can't skip a photo of the gorgeous new rock garden, either -



















Did I mention a shed? Oh, this shed...

Which is not quite finished yet, clearly. And those are more gardens on either side of the new shed. A shed also designed by my husband, who has really impressed me with his capabilities lately!

We'd hoped to get the shed finished as it's the last thing on our list. Alas, my husband is back to work tomorrow and it will have to happen piecemeal over evenings and weekends. Most of the hard part is done (we just need to finish sheathing the roof, then tarpaper the whole thing, do shingles, siding, fascia, soffits, and lattice along the bottom. It will be pretty when it's done, with two windows.

Also on our to-do list are: hang gorgeous Mexican hammock, and buy patio furniture! Then... relax!